Why random time-hopping is dangerous
by ShiiroiKitsune21
Summary: Team Minato will never know what got into their sensei's head – because, really, a time-hopping scroll? That was just impossible, wasn't it? Randomness, seriousness, face-palms and sad attempts at humor ahead!
1. Chapter 1: the adventure begins!

**Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins! **

* * *

"Sensei?"

"Yes, Obito?"

"What's that scroll?"

Said scroll was a plain-looking one, purposefully brown-ish in colour to pass unnoticed. All in all, it looked like a boring mission report no one would look at twice.

"This," Minato grinned widely in triumph, "is a time-travelling scroll, my very own creation!"

Kakashi failed to remain unimpressed, but he was still doubtful.

"Why do you tell us about it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why not?" Minato shrugged, "You _are_ my cute little students, you deserve to know what awaits you in the future!" The jonin smiled and his teeth sparkled.

Rin still looked a little uncertain. "And what happens when you activate the scroll?" Everyone stared with a 'you don't know?' expression at her.

"I mean," she rephrased hastily "what will happen to _us_ if we… time-travel?"

Minato shrugged and showed his team the intricate seals on the scroll.

"This section," he pointed some strange-looking scribbles, "should allow us to have a tangible form, while this," he pointed another weird part, "should keep us alive during the time-hop".

"_Should_?"

Kakashi, Rin and Obito looked worriedly at their sensei. Was he insane or something?

Minato looked affronted, "Hey, Jiraya-sensei helped me last week! We're two seal masters, I'm pretty sure this seal won't blow up!"

"Jiraya-sama was _drunk_ last week." Kakashi deadpanned.

Minato coughed and waved his hand dismissively, "Details, 'Kashi-kun".

Disbelieving stares were shot at him.

"However," the blonde raised his voice, "let's try this!"

He did some hand seals and slammed his palm on the scroll.

"Time-hopping no jutsu!"

* * *

Wolf just killed his target when a bright light almost blinded him.

The seventeen-years-old immediately took cover somewhere in the bloody room (It wasn't his fault there were twenty or so guards, honest!) and suppressed his chakra.

His eyes almost popped out of their sockets when his old genin team, coughing and _alive_, appeared in front of him.

"Minato-sensei!" the Obito-look-alike shouted, "_What the hell_?!"

_That_ was what Wolf was asking himself, as well.

The blonde motioned him to stay silent and keep his guard up, looking around the not-so-much lit room.

"T-There's blood everywhere…" Rin (wasn't she dead?) stuttered. Wolf's younger-looking self seemed to pale a little (it was hard to tell) and assumed a fighting stance, taking out his tanto.

Minato's azure eyes looked intently at Wolf's hiding place.

"Show yourself." ordered the blonde.

Wolf paused. Should he? Maybe, so he could beat Team Minato's impostors for their outrageous stunt.

The ANBU stepped out from the shadows with his blood-stained ANBU armor and mask.

The Rin-look-alike turned a strange shade of white (and a little green?), the Minato impersonator looked vaguely sick, not-Obito's jaw hanged open and the last masked impersonator swayed a little.

"You have lots of guts," Wolf stated tonelessly "to impersonate _them_".

"YOU'RE FUTURE KAKASHI?!" Obito (not him!) screamed.

The three other impersonators looked close to face-palm multiple times.

Well, Wolf wasn't exactly used to random people to recognize him, but _hey_, who else had spiky silver hair? He was just too sneaky to be seen (it honestly wasn't his fault one of the guards was a sensor nukenin. Really).

'Future Kakashi' gathered chakra to his right hand.

"I am." he answered and shifted slightly his position.

"And you are impostors."

His chakra sparkled a little with electricity and the team tensed.

"_HOW DARE YOU_?!"

His hand was completely covered in lightning chakra and, with a high-pitched sound, he charged the group.

Minato hastily sidestepped the furious (future) Kakashi and grabbed his cute, little, _shocked_ students. Quite obviously, he ran for their lives.

"Kakashi!" he called for his student, currently hanging on the back of his jonin jacket, "Grab my scroll and activate it!"

The little chuunin searched hurriedly the scroll in Minato's weapon pouch.

"The hand seals are Ox, Boar, Dog, Dragon, Rat and Tiger!" the blonde almost shouted, avoiding being skewered with pointy ninja tools.

Somehow, Rin (who was under Minato's arm) held open the scroll while Kakashi performed the hand signs.

"Time-hopping no jutsu!"

* * *

The team appeared on a red bridge. It was a sunny day.

"Sensei…" Obito said between pants. Even if he didn't run, that scare left him out of breath.

"…why did you do it?"

Minato made a strange noise that vaguely resembled a whimper.

Rin and Obito stood up, but Kakashi and their sensei didn't. Thus, obviously, the Uchiha tried to shake their shoulders.

"Minato-sensei! Bakakashi! Get up!" Obito yelled right in their hears. He received tired groans in return.

"Maybe…" the blonde said, grimacing, "…maybe I put too much chakra… but hey, it worked…" he smiled proudly, trying harder to stand up.

Kakashi grunted, but he couldn't find the strength to get up.

_'__Chakra exhaustion is a bitch'. _

Minato obviously understood why his student didn't move, if his slightly amused expression was anything to go by. Cursed adult-sized chakra reserves.

"Sorry 'Kashi-kun." he apologized sincerely; he didn't mean to exhaust his little student, poor little thing. "But it was an emergency, as you have seen". Kakashi's eye twitched.

He allowed Minato to carry him on his back. Not that he could do anything else, really.

The glare Kakashi sent Obito just _dared_ the latter to laugh.

"OK squad" the blonde spoke up, "we'll have to explore this Konoha without attracting attention, discover which time we're in and get some information. Got it?"

Three 'yes'es were heard.

"SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAN!"

The four shinobi, startled, hid somewhere in the bushes around the red bridge.

A girl (twelve-years-old?) with long pink hair and emerald eyes was walking, followed by an… enthusiastic blonde boy.

'_They wear red and ORANGE?!_' Kakashi thought, disbelieving. Both wore the Konoha hitai-ate, but how were they ninjas? No sense of stealth whatsoever and… they were LOUD!

"NARUTO!" the girl (Sakura, it seemed. How _fitting_) screeched "STOP BEING ANNOYING!" (_look who's talking…_)

"B-But Sakura-CHAAAAAN!" Naruto whined with a pout.

'_If this is the future Konoha, we're all doomed'_ Kakashi thought in despair, '_But, seriously, why is Naruto so similar to Minato-sensei?'_

The boy wore BRIGHT ORANGE, was loud, obnoxious, annoying… but he had a certain resemblance to Minato that couldn't be ignored. He had the same unruly blonde hair and blue eyes: maybe a shade or two darker, but still.

_'__At least it's better than a future me trying to kill us…'_

"SASUKE-KUUUUN!"

_'…__I take back what I thought. Fangirls are worse'._

The time-hoppers had to watch and eavesdrop to discover when they were. Unfortunately, they didn't get any important information from the genins' (because the three had Konoha hitai-ate on them, even if they didn't seem to deserve it) bickering, too familiar to Kakashi and Obito's.

"Dobe, shut up." Sasuke, who was proudly displaying the infamous Uchiha Glare, sneered.

"TEME!" Naruto growled "_YOU_ NEED TO SHUT UP! TAKE THIS!"

Sasuke grunted haughtily and sidestepped the blonde, starting a fight between them.

A very _one-sided_ fight.

"NARUTO!" Sakura screeched again, "STOP!"

With that, she punched her teammate on his head hard. As hard as a genin with abysmal taijutsu skills could punch.

Team Minato sweat-dropped. Those genins were really, really stupid. At least, this could mean the war ended (or only that the new generation was stupid. It was a fifty-fifty chance).

"Rin, Obito" Minato whispered "go ahead and ask them if the war ended, who's Hokage and anything that could help us understand when we are".

"Should we henge?" Rin asked.

Minato shrugged "No matter how stupid, they could see the henge's smoke. It's better to not do it" he replied "I'm sending you because Kakashi and I are low on chakra (and who would forget our hair's colour?), don't mess up".

The two hopeful-chuunins nodded and walked to the future team.

* * *

"HELLO GUYS!"

Team 7 turned around, breaking their impromptu staring contest.

There were a brown-haired girl with purple marks on her cheeks and a boy with orange goggles. They both had Konoha hitai-ate and the boy was waving at them, jogging towards the bridge.

"HELLO, DATTEBAYO!" Naruto shouted back.

"Hn. Who are you?" Sasuke asked, a little wary and annoyed. He didn't see these kids anywhere in the village.

"I'm Suzumi…"

"My name's _Uchiha Obito_!" the boy shouted proudly, disregarding the _little_ fact he was supposed to use another identity in case he met his older self.

"UCHIHA?" Sasuke definitely not-squeaked. He looked at Obito like he was some sort of ghost (which he was).

Obito, ignoring his teammate(s) face-palm(s), turned around and showed Sasuke the Uchiha crest on his back and pointed the red and white fan.

"I'm Obito Uchiha, the most awesome ninja that ever existed! I'll even surpass Bakaka… _mmph_!"

Rin smiled awkwardly "Ehehehe… sometimes Obito-kun gets excited and sprouts nonsense… ehehe…" her hand was on the boy's mouth, leaving nothing but incomprehensible noises to leave his lips.

"Don't compromise our '_cover_'" she hissed in his hear "they'll tell everything to their sensei and we'll get a one-way ticket to T&amp;I!" Obito shivered. The three genin didn't hear anything.

"It's _impossible._" Sasuke stated, disbelieving "I am the l_ast U__chiha_ since _that night_!"

'_The last?_' Minato thought alarmed '_What happened to them?!_' Obviously, everyone else had similar thoughts.

It looked like Obito wanted Suna to hear him and he did so with an eardrum-shattering yell of "LAST?! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Yeah, Teme! Why are you the last?!"

"You're the last, Sasuke-kun?!"

"What happened to the clan?"

Sasuke's expression turned undecipherable for several moments, then it kept switching between terrified, blank and murderous. His hands twitched a little, so Rin, Obito and Sakura had the sense to step back and shut up.

Naruto didn't.

"Teme, I don't speak Uchihese – dattebayo. _What happened_?"

"I NEED TO AVENGE MY CLAN!"

Sasuke lost all his cool façade and lunged at Naruto, who started screaming enough to break glass (but Obito's goggles were awesome and didn't shatter).

He didn't get very far because of a tall figure that stepped in, restraining both his arms tightly.

"LET ME GO! HE NEEDS TO DIE!" Sasuke kept screaming bloody murder. Literally.

"_Sasuke, calm down._" a tall, imposing and one-eyed Kakashi Hatake ordered from behind the so-called 'last Uchiha', who kept screaming and thrashing around.

"I order you to _calm_ down." Kakashi pulled off his authority and 'you-better-respect-me' aura and made sure Sasuke felt his right eye on him.

The Uchiha glared at his sensei and was about to retort when he felt his muscles shut down and lost consciousness.

* * *

'_What the hell did I miss?_' Kakashi thought, releasing his grip on Sasuke. He asked himself why there were Obito and Rin's impersonators with his genin, too.

And why there were Minato-sensei and himself as well. This was _confusing._

Somewhere in the corners of his mind, a memory tugged at him. He did meet some impostors many, many years ago… how did they disappear? Time-something… oh well. Might as well play their game.

"Obito. Rin." both genin froze and reluctantly turned around (their gazes seemed to focus on Minato's location. Uhm.) "What are you doing here?" Older Kakashi asked.

By his dark tone, however, the duo quickly understood that was a demand.

Obito stuttered helplessly.

"KAKA-SENSEI!" Naruto decided to yell, clearly not understanding what Kakashi was doing. The little blonde was as dense and unaware as a doorknob, really. "WHAT HAPPENED TO SASUKE-TEME?! WHO ARE THEY?! AND YOU'RE _EARLY_!"

And oh, Kakashi _was_ early. _Way too early_ for his standards. Only half an hour late!

But who didn't hear all the ruckus they were doing? Honestly, sometimes Kakashi felt the urge to remember all the jutsus he copied to find one to shut his genins up. It would be useful for them to realize how valuable their squeaky voices were.

"Kakashi," it took all of Obito's will to not add 'baka' at the beginning "is _always_ early. Every. Damn. _Time_!"

Naruto and Sakura were about to answer – loudly, oh so loudly – but their sensei cut them off.

"_Enough._" Kakashi commanded coldly. Everyone shut their mouths up.

His students didn't see this side of him _ever._ Not even on the Wave mission he used that tone –demanding immediate obedience, with an edge of anger and steel. He looked every bit the jonin commander he was supposed to be. Sasuke would probably think the same if he was conscious.

Rin and Obito were almost cowering, remembering all too well they couldn't hold on the hope he wouldn't kill them – for him, they were nothing but impostors, not teammates. This time, though, Minato-sensei couldn't help them as much as he wanted to. _That_ scared them shitless.

"Minato-sensei. Chibi-me." the tall man commanded again "Get out of those bushes, _now_".

The blonde knew better than go against an Hatake when he had _that tone_. He learnt his lesson from Sakumo – and really, it looked like Kakashi was more similar to him than he would ever admit. They left the bushes and the time-hopping jonin stepped near Obito and Rin.

Minato gave his little student enough chakra to stay upright, but the moment he tried to move his chakra exhaustion would be noticed by the genins, too.

"Naruto. Sakura." the duo, unusually silent, straightened and looked at their sensei "Take Sasuke and don't let him fall". The blonde boy realized he never thought of it but, instead of smiling and yelling "Hai, Kaka-sensei – dattebayo!" while plotting the Uchiha's not-permanent demise, he just complied.

He would never admit his thoughts were '_Oh my God, Oh my God, Kaka-sensei is SCARY! I don't think it's really him – SCARY – He's not late! Better listen to him now – Oh God I don't want to die so young!' _

"We're going straight to Hokage-sama. Follow me."

With that, the two teams departed for the Hokage's office.

* * *

Somehow, no one noticed them during their walk there (for Chibi Kakashi it was a piggy-back ride on Minato's shoulders, but that's beside the point). The two jonins entered inside the Hokage's office, leaving behind the genins and chuunin.

An awkward silence fell upon the five kids and unconscious Sasuke.

"Ne, Sakura-chan…"

"Uhm?" the girl blinked at his teammate. Trust Naruto to break the silence first...

"…I _never_ saw Kaka-sensei _that scary -_ttebayo." he whispered, shuddering a little. It was so unlike him that Sakura didn't even think about beating the 'dattebayo' out of him.

"You mean he isn't always like that?" Obito looked at the two brightly-clothed genins like they were aliens. Between being around stick-up-his-ass Kakashi and running for their lives from angry future Kakashi, he couldn't imagine his teammate behaving any different. Because, face it, Kakashi being _fluffy_? That was impossible.

The little blonde nodded his head with far too much energy. "Yeah –dattebayo! Kaka-sensei always has that strange orange book, somehow reading it while walking and, and… _I mean_, he was never like… like _that_!" he waved his arms like a madman, not finding the right words.

"Naruto's right," Sakura agreed "but he _is_ a jonin – a very good one, at that". Here Chibi Kakashi would have smirked (definitely not whooped!) if he could waste energy.

The blonde shuddered again. "But he never ever used _that tone_ with us!"

"That doesn't mean he can't…" Sasuke deadpanned from the sidelines. Naruto jumped from his seat while Sakura squealed and hugged her crush (that woke sometime during their conversation) to death.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the… display of affection between Sakura and the Uchiha boy (very, very one-sided), who was trying hard to pry the fangirl off him. The silver-haired chuunin felt a little pity for him (Kami knew how he could have survived if Rin was like that…) before squashing it down.

"What do you know about your sensei's life? Other than the orange book he reads, that is." Rin curiously asked. It was still their task to get some information, what better way than let the three genins babble?

The three kids looked at each other. That was a _good_ question.

"…He's famous." Naruto finally decided to say, crossing his arms. He looked deep in thought and his teammates really wished to have a camera to remember this once-in-a-lifetime event. The three time-hopping shinobi raised their eyebrows.

Sakura fiddled a little, unsure about whether or not tell those people what she had in mind.

"A-ano… during the bell test… Kakashi-sensei said his friends' names were on the Memorial Stone, didn't he?"

Chibi Kakashi almost choked, remembering _exactly_ what the bell test's purpose was. What was his future self thinking?! After what happened to _him_… when did he start valuing _teamwork_? His teammates were only deadweights during fights and training!

"_Friends_?!" Obito gaped at Sakura. 'Kakashi' and 'friends' were _never_ in the same sentence unless there was 'hasn't' between them! And for _Bakakashi_, the king of secrecy (Obito _never_ thought that. Nope) to admit his students his supposed _friends_ were Killed In Action…

Rin frowned, more focused on the fact they were on the Memorial Stone. Who died from their time to this?

Sakura squeaked at Obito's shout, but answered all the same "H-Hai… he didn't tell us who they were, though…" Kakashi-sensei was pretty much a loner, right, but why did the boy _yell_? It couldn't be _that_ unlikely!

"…Anything else?" Rin knew this couldn't be the end.

Naruto snapped his fingers in realization. "OH, RIGHT! Kaka-sensei has the _Sharingan_!"

Completely oblivious to the shock of the time-hoppers, the blonde continued blabbing, "On his left eye he has a freakish scar – and, under it, there's that scary red eye!" he made some gestures to empathize his words "It's, like, the _coolest_ thing I've ever seen! I don't understand why he covers it… why aren't you saying anything, -ttebayo?"

Sasuke's jaw almost dropped. Uchiha Obito… only Uchihas have the Sharingan… little Kakashi-look-alike with both dark eyes… it all clicked in place. If there aren't any plausible reasons, the most farfetched is the truth.

"Naruto, shut up immediately." the boy looked more than ready to retort, but Sasuke cut him off "You… you're from the past – aren't you?"

The trio tensed up and looked wide-eyed at him, confirming his suspicions.

Sakura was the next to understand his reasoning and her jaw actually dropped on the floor. She flushed bright red and she was going to scream when the Hokage's door opened.

"Oi." the very same person they were talking about poked his head to look at them. "You all, Hokage-sama wants you to enter."

* * *

Team Minato couldn't help but _stare_ at the slanted hitai-ate of Older Kakashi. The Sharingan was right under _there_… one of their questions was answered with that.

Obito was certainly dead.

"Naruto, Sakura." the silver-haired jonin called casually. The two kids tensed. "…Don't reveal secrets like that, OK?" Eye-smile. It took spending a lot of time with the man to know it was the fakest smile he could pull off. Actually, Older Kakashi was disappointed in his students – if someone suspicious and unknown asked information about a comrade, you don't just _tell. _That's the _stupidest_ thing you can do. He expected this to happen with Naruto, but _Sakura_? She should have known better.

The duo bowed their heads and murmured an apology.

"Sasuke," the eye-smile was more genuine "you guessed right – Obito, Rin, Minato-sensei and Chibi Me travelled forward in time".

The trio of time-hoppers was too stunned by the last bombshell to say anything else. It was Minato who chuckled uncomfortably.

"Yeah… I explained to Hokage-sama what happened until now and showed him the time-travelling scroll..." he awkwardly summed his impromptu meeting. He didn't want to tell them the barely restrained fury Older Kakashi was going to lash out – that would just scare them to death.

"T-The Sharingan…" everyone looked at Obito. "…h-how… why…?"

Team Minato discreetly winced at his unusually subdued tone. Minato heard what was said as well, and he was asking himself the same thing. Why did Kakashi have a Sharingan?

"Isn't it your eye?" Naruto asked at length. Dense as he was, he didn't understand why it shouldn't be – it was in his head, wasn't it? He looked back and forth the two versions of his Sensei, but what was the problem?

"No, it isn't. It's Obito's" Older Kakashi sighed and, before the kids could scream in horror, he continued "On my first mission as a jonin, Obito died," the one in the room made a strangled noise, "and he gave me his Sharingan as his final act".

The genins and the chuunin still looked horrified.

Naruto, Sakura and Obito's face turned a vague shade of green while Rin, Sasuke and Chibi Kakashi paled. Having another's eyeball in your skull was… strange… and _gross_. How could the jonin still joke, laugh, smile… when every second he lived reminded him of his dead teammate?

The Sandaime cleared his throat to regain the shinobis' attention. "Now, we decided to let you rest in this 'time', since we confirmed you are from the past. If, and only if Kakashi –the older one– decides you can access to certain information, you four will know." Obito and Rin almost complained, but fortunately remained silent.

"You can rest for a week maximum – that should be enough time for your chakra levels to return normal. However, I suggest you to Henge into someone else: your presence would cause quite an uproar here." The Sandaime looked like he was suppressing both a smile and a grimace.

"Kakashi – no, the older one… can you open the Hatake Compound for them?"

Both Hatakes and Minato tensed at the order-in-disguise. The _Hatake Compound_? The one that plagued Kakashi's nightmares and he pretended it didn't exist? _That_?! Instead of the reaction the older blonde expected (denial, shouts, angry retorts), Older Kakashi nodded.

"I will, Hokage-sama. However, no one stepped inside the Compound for _years_. I don't think it's in livable condition." It seemed the old man had a solution for this too.

"Then you have a D-rank mission for today."

Awkward silence.

"…D-rank?"

"Yes, Naruto. I'm assigning you a mission – clean up the Hatake Compound for our 'guests'." The Hokage smiled at his brilliant plan to keep Team Minato's presence a secret.

* * *

With much reluctance on both parties, they arrived in front of the Hatake Compound.

"You used to live _HERE_, Sensei?! It's _HUGE_ – dattebayo!"

Older Kakashi nodded without much enthusiasm. "Aa. This is the Hatake Compound. Everyone, watch your steps – there are still active traps inside".

Sakura's eyes widened in fright. "_Traps?!_ But we're near the village! Why should there be any?!"

The tall man waved a hand dismissively. "Maa… Jonins are paranoid, Sakura. It's pretty much a part of the job's description." Minato raised an eyebrow, knowing there was much more than that. Sakumo wasn't very popular when Kakashi left the Compound…

Seeing Sakura and Naruto's skeptical frown, Older Kakashi sighed, "Just follow me, OK?"

They did so in silence. The garden/training ground was clearly abandoned, the grass tall and the two training stumps destroyed; inside, it wasn't much better. The wooden floor creaked at every step and the walls needed immediate care. In the living room there were a few shelves, armchairs and a couch; on its left, there was a room that vaguely resembled a kitchen.

No one dared to breathe more than necessary, in fear of getting skewered with pointy ninja tools or worse.

Older Kakashi signaled the two Teams to stop and he walked through a very well hidden door, much to the genins' surprise. After a second, the walls brightened a little with chakra and he closed the door behind him.

"I switched off the traps." the kids (minus Chibi Kakashi) sighed in relief at that statement.

"Why didn't you take care of this place, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked meekly.

"I was too busy at the time to do it…" he scratched his head, then eye-smiled. "But now that it's our mission to clean this place, I guess it's time to begin!"

His three students were suddenly buried under brooms, buckets, cleaning products and dusters.

"Naruto, create some Kage Bunshins to help with the yard – Sakura, start cleaning the floor," Older Kakashi cheerfully shoved the products in his genins' hands "Sasuke, don't leave a speck of dust on the furniture and make sure Naruto doesn't ruin the garden…"

"HEY!"

"To all of you, this is the living room, there," he pointed to his left, "is the kitchen, the bathroom's that way – upstairs there are two bedrooms and the study." Kakashi suddenly glared, changing abruptly from cheerful to dead serious.

"Whoever dares to open its door without my permission _will _experience his (or hers) worst nightmare – and won't necessarily live through it. _Understood_?"

Sakura, Naruto, Obito and Rin immediately squeaked an affirmative, while Sasuke shivered and nodded.

Older Kakashi eye-smiled again and everyone was left to question his sanity.

"Chibi me will come with me for a trip." the man grabbed his (chakra exhausted) younger self to empathize his point. "Minato-sensei is in charge, so you better follow his orders." he waved his hand cheerfully. "Ja ne!"

A poof of smoke later, the two Hatakes disappeared.

* * *

**A/N: Aaaaaaand this is another story! :D**

**Call me stupid, but I had this Chapter in my computer for a while and I wanted to publish it. **

**I planned this story to be 5-6 Chapters long, dumping Team Minato in different times inside Naruto's timeline (Shippuden included! ;D). I want you to vote and/or suggest other 3 or 4 times in which I can send them. Thus, begin the poll: **

**-Pain's invasion, near Kakashi's corpse**

**-During the Gokage Summit, Sasuke's fight **

**-Beginning of the Fourth Shinobi War, when Gaara speaks **

**-Chuunin Exams, invasion**

**-Chuunin Exams, after Sandaime's death **

**-After Chuunin Exams, when Itachi and Kisame are onto Naruto**

**-After Chuunin Exams, when Itachi knocks Kakashi into coma **

**-Whatever you suggest! :D **

**What do you think? If it sucks, tell me how to improve and I'll gladly change – if you do so 'gently', even better! :3**

**EDIT: removed some parenteses and capital letters due to WDW's suggestion :D And corrected some little things in the dialogues!**

**Beware of the Kitsune's rage!**

**Shiiroi Kitsune21**


	2. Chapter 2: Discovery

**I returned from my grave! *avoiding flying tomatoes* Uh… missed me much? **

**So… as the voting population decided, Pain/Pein's invasion is confirmed! Vote and suggest everything else you think might be interesting! :D**

**If someone else like UntiedHeartbeat was wondering if Kakashi was a hypocrite, the situation was different (aka he knew exactly who they were and Obito deserved to know) and he was vague. He didn't say when he became jonin, what mission it was and how his beliefs were turned upside down. **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, even though you're too many to list here! Thank you so much for waiting for this story to be updated – I shall do my best to keep writing! :D**

**And WARNING! This Chapter actually contains seriousness! Business! Whatever you call it! I still think it's more like depression. Or epic fail, I don't know. **

* * *

**Chapter 2: Discovery**

Minato's head ached.

Older Kakashi's genin immediately started working (Team Minato choked when they saw _fifty Narutos_ enthusiastically bouncing outside), while Obito and Rin helped Sakura. Sasuke refused their help and muttered something that sounded like, "I'm not responsible for what the Dobe does."

And guess who was in charge of Naruto?

"TOO BIG!"

"TOO SMALL!"

"FIND ANOTHER LOG!"

"THE GRASS IS TALL AS ME – CUT IT!"

"DO IT YOURSELF!"

"YOU'RE ME, STOP COMPLAINING – _DATTEBAYO_!"

While Minato tried to organize Naruto's Kage Bunshin – where the heck did he learn that jutsu, anyway? – he couldn't help but ponder if this boy was really related to him in some way.

He almost scoffed at himself. _Of course_ Naruto was – who else had spiky blonde hair and blue eyes other than a Namikaze? Minato had something to say about the eye-burning _orange_ jumpsuit and _loudness_, but he could tell the boy would never give up, a quality the blonde jonin appreciated greatly.

Something he found in his red-haired girlfriend, Uzumaki Kushina.

Loud, bright, lively, attention-grabbing and with a verbal tick… Minato stopped himself. _Verbal tick?_ She had 'dattebane', Naruto had 'dattebayo'…

Realization hit Minato like a ton of bricks. Before, he was much more focused on Older Kakashi and how to convince Sandaime-sama of their real identities, but now…

"Naruto?"

"YEAH?" All Bunshins stopped working to look at him.

He grimaced at the echo. "I only need one – you, here." A clone stepped near the older blonde while all the others resumed their work, trying to follow Minato's directions.

"What's your complete name?"

"Oh, I'm _Uzumaki Naruto – dattebayo_!" the Bunshin shouted proudly, completely oblivious to the expression on Minato's face. The jonin gulped.

"And… do you know your parents?"

The genin's face fell. "…No, I… I don't… I never met them…" His feet were suddenly much more interesting than Kakashi's sensei …

Minato's mind suddenly screeched to a halt. If _Uzumaki_ Naruto never met his parents and didn't know who they were, it meant _Kushina was dead_. And if Naruto had two Namikaze-only features…

_Minato was dead, too_.

The man felt lightheaded and dizzy. Not only were the _whole_ Uchiha Clan and Obito _dead_… now he and Kushina were, too? And they had a _son_ who never had their love? Who didn't even know their names, their legacy? _Nothing at all_?

The jonin swallowed. Now wasn't the time to faint.

"Didn't Sandaime-sama say anything? Or Kakashi, for that matter?"

Naruto looked up reluctantly. "…I never asked Kaka-sensei, but Hokage-jiji said they died in the Kyuubi Attack." At Minato's horrified face, the blonde boy cursed at his own stupidity and face-palmed so hard the clone dispelled.

…_THE KYUUBI ATTACK?! _

* * *

"…Obito?"

"Uhm?" said boy looked at the pink-haired girl.

"…Do you know why Sensei forbade us from going inside the study?"

Both time-hopping genins stopped their floor-cleaning to think about it. That was a damn good question – of which they didn't know the answer.

"I don't know…" the Uchiha assumed a thinking pose, "Bakakashi has never told us about a forbidden study or anything – actually, he never talked _at all_, which is part of why he's such a jerk-"

"Obito!" Rin glared at him, instantly shutting him up.

"Kakashi-sensei isn't _that_ bad…" Sakura's eyebrow twitched slightly. "…even if he's always reading that perverted book and he's _at least_ two hours late…"

"_WHAT?!_"

Sakura nodded. "Today, Sensei arrived earlier than usual and wasn't reading that book, but all the other times…" she sighed exasperatedly.

"_Kakashi is USUALLY LATE_?!" Obito screamed indignantly, "And he dares to lecture _me_ when I am?! _That TEME_!" He continued to rant about unfairness, hypocrites and how he was going to disembowel him – with _love_, of course. And not before he discovered why the hell his future self gave the Sharingan to him.

Rin was actually more worried about what could bring their cold-hearted and rule-stuck teammate to behave like that. When she saw future Kakashi, at first she thought he didn't change much – commanding, collected, a hundred percent Shinobi. After their identities were confirmed, instead, he was a lot more different. Wary of them, of course, but more… relaxed? Rin would freely admit Kakashi's 'double personality disorder' was quite disturbing: one minute he was the Kakashi they knew, the next he was the total opposite.

"Sakura-san?" the genin looked at her. "How are you sure Kakashi reads perverted books?"

The girl scowled. "I saw the cover and its title is 'Icha Icha Paradise'… if that isn't a pervy title…"

"Yeah…" Rin agreed with a light blush. Who would have guessed Kakashi would read books like that? And in broad daylight, in front of his students! He has really changed… but did he realize he was too caught up in his training, or did Obito's death really hit him so deep?

Rin almost face-palmed at her thoughts. Kakashi had Obito's _eyeball_ in his skull since he became a jonin – _of course_ his death hit deep!

The boy actually stopped ranting for a second, blushed and opened his mouth to shout – but he was cut off when an angry Minato-sensei stormed inside the room.

"Sakura." the blonde stared at her with an almost thunderous expression.

"Y-Yes?" she squeaked.

"What happened to the Kyuubi after its attack on Konoha?" his voice chilled the three kids to the bone. Rin and Obito heard _that tone_ only one time – right before he slaughtered at least twenty Iwa shinobi with swift efficiency. Then his actual words sunk in. A… a _Kyuubi_ attack? On _Konoha_?

"I-I…" the girl stuttered and started shaking like a leaf. "T-The Kyuubi w-was… killed by the Y-Yondaime…"

"Demons can't be killed like that."

"T-Then I d-don't k-know!" Sakura was as pale as a sheet when Sasuke stepped in, having overheard the conversation.

"What's happening, Minato-san?" the boy was trying very hard to appear unaffected by the blonde's aura, but experienced shinobi could have seen right through it.

Minato looked at the Uchiha and narrowed his eyes. "The Kyuubi. _Where_ is it now?" he demanded. He needed to know if it was free or sealed! Kushina was dead in the future and the blonde had every right to know if the bijuu sealed inside her was in another person or (worst but unlikely scenario) freely roaming.

Sasuke blinked. "The Kyuubi? I heard it was dead."

"MINATO-SAN, MY CLONES WON'T LISTEN TO M… oh." Naruto chose that moment to walk in, asking for help with his bunshin. He blinked. "Did I interrupt something?"

Everyone stared at him with 'duh' expressions.

"Naruto. Do you know where the Kyuubi ended up after its attack?" Minato softened his voice not to frighten his son. His and _Kushina's son_.

The little genin paled an alarming shade of white and his expression turned into one of horror. His right hand clutched his stomach area briefly and Minato _knew_. He knew where the Kyuubi was sealed.

_Inside his son. _

* * *

After a long, vague talk about changing morals, grocery shopping and dragging his younger self, Kakashi entered in the now-actually-livable Hatake Compound – through a window, of course. He had a reputation to maintain.

What bothered him was the eerie and foreboding silence.

He stretched his chakra to feel the others – there was a bright, warm and huge chakra signature (definitely Naruto), two fire-attuned ones (Sasuke and Obito), Rin and Sakura's smaller reserves and Minato's.

Older Kakashi frowned when he felt worry, alarm and overall repressed anger bubbling within his sensei's chakra. What happened to upset Minato so much?

When both Hatakes stepped into the living room, the genins were in different states of distress, ranging from Sakura's trembling limbs to Sasuke's cool façade. It was only his chakra that betrayed his feelings about… whatever happened before Kakashi entered. He silently activated a privacy seal around the living room, knowing roughly what he should expect.

"…What did I miss?"

"Kakashi." Minato was using the 'you better listen to me _or else'_ voice and both masked shinobi straightened. The younger breathed in relief when his sensei looked at the older one, who did his best not to tense too much.

"What happened to _my son_?" His look screamed '_you know who I am talking about'_ and his icy azure eyes stared unflinchingly at Kakashi's onyx one. It was quite the experience to have the not-much-dead-anymore Yondaime glare at him like that.

Kakashi could hold his ground only so much against his sensei when he was like that - without resorting to emergency ANBU tactics, of course; Minato couldn't possibly be willing to harm him, right? - and he eventually lowered his head, sighing.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura – why don't you put the food in the kitchen and prepare four futons for them?"

The Jinchuuriki looked more than ready to argue, but his teammates luckily understood it was an order and Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head. Sasuke glanced at them before taking the groceries from the floor and leaving.

The moment they were out of earshot, Older Kakashi sighed again and sat on the couch, murmuring it would take a while and why not make themselves comfortable. Silence fell and Team Minato stared at him expectantly. They had time, all the time in the world.

"Uzumaki Naruto _is_ your future son, sensei – born on the date of the Kyuubi Attack on Konoha. No one is to talk about his Jinchuuriki status and the handful who know of his heritage are forbidden from ever bringing that up – actually, I shouldn't say anything even to you four." There, a blunt answer. Straight to the point.

Minato tried with all his will to remain composed, but couldn't help the wary sigh that escaped his lips. So _he was right_. Naruto didn't know anything of his parents, of _him_, of _Kushina_… but it still didn't explain why he knew of the Kyuubi. The way he gripped his stomach when the jonin asked about the bijuu was a dead giveaway.

"Who said it to him, then?" it was more of a demand than a question.

"An academy teacher. Totally bonkers. I don't know the details, but that chuunin ended up beaten to a pulp and in jail." Older Kakashi answered. He kept his answer as short and to the point as possible – the less information they knew, the better.

After all, he couldn't lie to his not-dead Sensei this blatantly, could he? But not saying anything would have meant either a rampaging Yellow Flash and a raided Hokage Achieve or a fourth-degree interrogation on most of the jonin population (starting from himself), whether Sandaime-sama and the ANBU were ready for it. They probably weren't.

Younger Kakashi tensed, Rin's eyes widened and Obito blurted, "_You_ don't know the details?!"

"How did Naruto take it?" the girl asked worried.

The older Hatake shrugged, "Like I said, I don't know the details." Silence fell again in the living room and the four time-hopping shinobi pondered on what they could ask. It didn't mean they'd get an answer to their doubts and half-formed suspicions, but it would be better than nothing. They just had to word it carefully.

However, they didn't get the chance to speak up because Older Kakashi abruptly stood up.

"It's already late. My students should have already put the food in the kitchen and rolled down the futons – I'll leave now, Minato-sensei." He bowed slightly to his sensei and nodded to his genin teammates, turning to the door-

"Kakashi."

The jonin stopped in his tracks. "…Yes?"

Minato strode to his future student. They could see eye-to-eye physically, but mentally? The would-be Yondaime wanted – _needed_ answers about what happened to his village and his son, and Kakashi was standing in his way.

"A team always stays together until it's stripped down to nothing," he reasoned out loud, trying not to feel guilty about both Kakashi's winces and Obito and Rin's whimpers, "so there is no way you can weasel out of my question saying you _don't know the details_: what happened to me, Rin, Kushina and Konoha?"

The older Hatake kept staring at his teacher. "Everyone's dead."

Minato, though paler than could be considered healthy, grasped his student's jacket. "_How?_" he hissed.

"I'd rather not tell you, sensei."

The two genin and one chuunin couldn't believe their own ears. Did Kakashi just _stonewall _Minato-sensei?!

The Yellow Flash plastered a blank expression on his face. It made many Iwa-nin cower and run for their lives during the Third Shinobi War, but Future Kakashi merely blinked back. Only his tense posture betrayed his almost bored expression.

Minato's grip on his student's dark green jacket tightened. "Listen-"

"If this were an interrogation," the older Hatake interrupted mildly, "this would be the part where you start torturing me."

Team Minato gaped at that. Their leader breathed in sharply.

Kakashi's lone onyx eye stared unflinchingly at him. "Are you sure you're up for that?"

After a few tense seconds, Minato released his future student. The man nodded and didn't waste any time in shunshinning out of his former house.

The silence was deafening, unanswered questions lingering in the air.

* * *

The four time-hopping shinobi got up at a half past six.

Or rather, they laid awake on their futons until their internal clock ticked half past six. Every time one of them closed his eyes, the worst scenarios about their deaths - during the Kyuubi Attack, on a mission, a backfired jutsu, a betrayal - would flash in their mind and keep them from sleeping.

Younger Kakashi was the most silent of the group.

"Kashi?" Minato asked the next morning, "How are you?" He couldn't ask if he was alright when the boy obviously wasn't. None of them was.

The chuunin looked at him and he couldn't bring himself to lie so blatantly. His instinctive 'I'm fine' didn't even have the chance to form and he sighed softly. He swallowed nervously and tried to look anywhere but at his team. Minato waited patiently and Obito and Rin were still too shocked and horrified at the news to insist.

"When I was with my… older self," Kakashi eventually stated, trying to speak like it was a normal report of a mission, "he talked to me. About you and everyone else. Your deaths, specifically."

And he dragged him to the Memorial Stone, to Rin, Minato and Kushina's graves, all the while rubbing in his face that _he should cherish the time he had with them_, _help them_ and whoever says comrades are less important than the mission _can shove sticks up their asses. _

Older Kakashi told him what Obito said to him on their last mission together and made sure he understood every single word. "Because you want to change their fates as much as I do," the jonin concluded right before taking the groceries from his Bunshin.

And that wasn't even everything – why did Sandaime-sama have to choose the Hatake Compound? The old (definitely old now, aged from when they left their time) man should know why Kakashi abandoned it. He should know it caused his worst nightmares to reappear and hunt him every breath he took inside the house.

Minato's eyes widened (in horror or shock, Kakashi didn't care), as did Rin and Obito's. Their expression ranged from horrified, surprised and blank and kept changing.

A few tears slipped from his teammates' eyes, but he pretended not to notice for once.

No one said a word after that and quietly returned to munch the food Minato-sensei prepared.

* * *

"Ano… Kaka-sensei?"

"Uhm?"

"What are we doing now –ttebayo? Where are the people from yesterday?" Naruto stared clueless at his sensei. He narrowed his eyes to discover if Scary Kakashi was going to pop up suddenly and scare him to death, but fortunately there wasn't any trace.

"Well…" Kakashi drawled lazily, "We're going to do some endurance training…" he promptly ignored his students' groans, "and today they can join us-"

"YATTA!"

"-only if they feel up to it. Hokage-sama let them rest there because they need to replenish their chakra reserves, like, hmm… like that time on the Wave mission, you remember?" Team 7 nodded. "It's similar, but they need less time because they didn't exhaust their chakra completely."

Sakura pouted. "So they won't come?" She was disappointed they couldn't – Kakashi-sensei was basically a mystery to them and those 'time-travellers' were his genin teammates, his jonin-sensei and _himself_! Sakura could discover _everything_ about him if she asked them.

During their cleaning of the Hatake Compound, Sakura found out her sensei radically changed from his childhood – the fact he was always early to his meetings was very, very weird after yelling at him every day because of his tardy streak, but it wasn't enough to satisfy her curiosity.

Kakashi eye-smiled. "I left a paper in the house to tell them we're training here, so they can join us," he patted her head, "but I don't think that's likely. They still need to rest, ne?"

Sasuke didn't give any outward emotion while Naruto jumped up and down in excitement because they will arrive, they'll train with them and _that's totally awesome_ and _Sasuke-teme will get his ass beaten by Chibi Sensei – believe it!_

Sakura's eyebrow twitched and she promptly bashed his head, screaming, "BAKA! DON'T YOU DARE INSULT SASUKE-KUN!"

Kakashi chuckled. His cute little team was just _adorable_.

* * *

Team Minato joined them only on the third day after their time-hop.

"Hello guys!"

Naruto and Sakura turned around to see the four time-travellers, jogging lightly towards them. She narrowed her eyes when the distance between them closed and their faces were clearer.

They all had tired lines under their eyes and everyone was much less enthusiastic than some days ago. Younger Kakashi was even paler than usual (at least more than his older self), Obito and Rin were smiling half-heartedly and Minato…

He was an enigma. He looked a lot like Naruto, but he was far more collected and calm. His expression was a strange combination of sad, angry and guilty – but Sakura only noticed his sadness. She fortunately didn't get the chance to ask about it.

"Where is… future Kakashi?"

Team 7 raised a collective eyebrow at Minato, who started looking around.

"Late." was Sakura's annoyed sigh. Sasuke grunted in agreement and Naruto agreed whole-heartedly with a loud, "SHE'S RIGHT – DATTEBAYO!"

Minato and Younger Kakashi's eyes widened, disbelieving. Kakashi, being _late_?!

"Maa… I'm not _that_ late."

Everyone turned their heads to see the same person they were talking about. He was slouching slightly, hands in his pockets – the only thing missing was his beloved orange book, which most probably was discarded because of his sensei's presence.

He shrugged. "It isn't my fault I had to report to Hokage-sama this morning-"

"Why the hell are _you late_?!" screamed Obito, no longer trying to remain silent. "Is the world ending? Sensei, are you _sure _this is the future?!"

"I'm pretty sure it is," Minato and both Kakashis replied at the same time. They exchanged odd looks and an awkward silence settled upon them. The future jonin's stubborn refusal to share important information with them still lingered in their minds.

"Alright kids," Older Kakashi clapped his hands, gaining everyone's attention, "this time you'll do a free-for-all spar – the only rule here is not to kill or maim each other. Got it?"

"Are we included too?" Obito spoke, narrowing his eyes.

The jonin smiled brightly. "Of course you are! Only I, Minato-sensei and Chibi won't join the fight."

Naruto pouted. "Owwww… why not mini-you -ttebayo?"

"He needs to rest," Minato promptly answered his son, ruffling his blonde hair, "and it would be really unfair if you had to fight me too, don't you think?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man, failing poorly to look into his soul. "But I wanted to see Chibi sensei kick Sasuke-teme's butt…" he whined with a pout on his lips. Not really his most brilliant idea.

"Show some respect for Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screeched at the top of her lungs and, as it was a habit, she hurled a punch at her blonde teammate.

Minato didn't like it. Not one bit.

Naruto failed his arms while trying to dodge Sakura's fist, and he would have been hit – if his dad didn't interfere and blocked her arm. Minato barely stopped himself from glaring at the girl who dared to harm his son – what right did _she_ have to order Naruto around?

Sakura looked owlishly at the man before blushing furiously in embarrassment. She stuttered an apology and quickly backed away from Minato, whose Killer Intent spiked involuntarily. Both Kakashis looked at each other and the older one cleared his throat.

Everyone looked at him. "Now start sparring. And remember, _no maiming_."

* * *

"Kakashi."

The jonin barely nodded to acknowledge his sensei's presence beside him. He was looking fondly at his students and past teammates, who were sparring in the clearing before him. Minato sat on his left.

"I put a fail-safe seal inside the scroll," stated the blonde, "that will draw chakra from a storage seal and activate the time-hopping jutsu every four days. It'll work only for whoever travelled first, even if we're far from the scroll."

Older Kakashi looked at his sensei briefly, almost regretfully. "I understand," was his reply.

Silence fell over them like a heavy blanket and they opted to watch their students.

Apparently, the future Team 7 teamed up against the two genin – almost chuunin, Older Kakashi mused, if his memory didn't fail him – and were attacking them head-on. Sasuke, although reluctant to work together with his teammates, seemed to be the leader of their formation.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

A barrage of brightly-clothed Naruto clones charged at Obito and Rin with a shout, someone hurling a kunai or jumping over their heads. Sasuke and Sakura dashed to the sides, most likely to attack after Naruto distracted the two time-hopping genin for enough time.

They dodged the flying weapons and Rin dashed back, keeping two kunai in her hands if the clones got too close for her liking. Obito jumped above the orange crowd and formed some very familiar hand seals.

"Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Very few clones avoided the scorching-hot fireball, but the others' deaths didn't bother them too much and they continued charging forward. A group of five Naruto started attacking Rin while five others jumped to get Obito, who was still falling.

Younger Kakashi seemed tempted to scoff as he saw Obito and five orange clones brawling. It was like they forgot their fighting styles and improvised all their moves! They were supposed to be ninjas; they couldn't fight like that on missions!

Minato seemed both exasperated and amused by their display, though. "They're very much alike, aren't they?" he chuckled as Older Kakashi sighed dejectedly and muttered a miserable, "Too much for my sanity."

Sasuke and Sakura had jumped out of the bushes and the Uchiha spat a fireball in Obito's direction, ignoring the clones' dismayed shouts. The pink-haired kunoichi engaged Rin with the remaining two Naruto, while Sasuke faced Obito alone.

The true Naruto wasn't happy of his clones' memories, and he decided to let everyone in Iwa know that. "TEME!" he exclaimed furiously, "WATCH WHERE THE HELL YOU SPIT THAT FIRE – DATTEBAYO! ARE YOU SO BLIND YOU CAN'T DO JUST THAT?!"

Said 'teme' couldn't let that insult harm his pride longer than two seconds. He turned around and glared at his supposed teammate. "_Your_ clones were in my way, it's _your fault_ they dispelled! I followed the formation, you were too slow to do the same!"

"TEME!"

"DOBE!"

"_TEMEEEE!_"

With that shout, Naruto charged at the wrong Uchiha and started brawling with him instead of Obito, who blinked owlishly at the scene before him. Even Sakura and Rin stopped sparring, since the other Naruto clones rushed to aid the original.

Minato chuckled again when Older Kakashi face-palmed with a sigh.

Muttering an exasperated, "Why me, karma?" the Hatake walked near the brawling kids. Frankly, he didn't need _this_ to know how similar his two teams were.

He quickly pulled up the two boys by their shirts and, utterly ignoring their… colourful curses, Kakashi bashed their heads together. Two twin howls of pain told him they wouldn't fight if he dropped them – and drop them he did.

"KAKA-SENSEI! WHAT THE HECK – TTEBAYO?!" Naruto rubbed his head and winced slightly at the pain. "That hurt, you know?!"

Sasuke glared at his silver-haired sensei and his eyes seemed to agree with his teammate for once.

Minato and Rin were opening their mouths to scold the Future Hatake – after all, who in his right mind bashed his students' heads like that? – but his expression stopped them. It wasn't playful or annoyed, not even resigned. He was utterly serious… and wasn't that _guilt_, showing in his onyx eye?

Kakashi looked at his students, hands in his pockets. "If this was a real mission," he stated, "you all would have already died."

The three genin weren't given a chance to justify themselves all together. "Tell me, who do you think is to blame? And for what reasons?"

Naruto and Sasuke immediately pointed each other and, after glancing briefly at both, Sakura pointed her blonde teammate as the guilty one.

"What?! It's not my fault!" the whiskered boy exclaimed indignantly, "It's Sasuke-teme that killed my clones first – dattebayo!"

The Uchiha sighed tiredly and turned around. "I knew my jutsu wouldn't have hit _you_, dobe." He ignored the pissed off look on Naruto's face and continued, "I can tell apart you from your clones. If you just kept fighting we wouldn't be here now."

Everyone prompted Sakura to speak up, but when she noticed the attention she blushed and meekly answered an, "I agree with Sasuke-kun."

"You both are to blame."

Older Kakashi raised a hand to stop the complaints that were sure to start. "Naruto, you could have ignored Sasuke's jutsu, and you know it – you did it, even, when Obito dispelled your clones. This might be a spar, but real battles cannot be stopped when you bicker with Sasuke."

The blonde bowed his head and the Uchiha smirked haughtily. At least, until Kakashi decided to wipe it off his face. "Sasuke, Naruto's clones have a special attribute – they transfer all their sensations and memories to the caster when they dispel. You burned five of them to death, so Naruto unconsciously felt your jutsu five times."

He sighed at both boys' shocked looks. "It isn't a wonder he reacted like that. At the beginning, every shinobi has trouble controlling the Shadow Clone's backlash." Naruto seemed tempted to snicker at Sasuke's taken aback look, but he was stopped by Kakashi's one-eyed glance.

He sighed. Teaching never was and never will be his forte, but his past teammates didn't need to know that. Kakashi knew basically everything about ninjas, so explaining what they did and pointing out errors was good, right?

Although he would place the blame mostly on Naruto – he ignored Obito's fireball, and yet he was the one who started that petty bickering. Maybe, just maybe, if he didn't insult Sasuke's eyesight (the worst topic someone could pick against an Uchiha) than the raven-haired boy might have ignored him and allowed Naruto to grudgingly aid him.

Older Kakashi sighed and turned to walk away. "Start again."

* * *

Later that evening, Minato gathered his team to leave.

The chakra in the storage seal was supposed to be used only on an emergency, which this definitely wasn't.

He considered bidding farewell to his future student, but decided against it. It wasn't like he'd reveal anything important on this supposed goodbye, and if he was still anything like his younger self he wouldn't know what to say. Interpersonal interactions had never been Kakashi's forte.

The young, brooding chuunin under his tutelage had almost all of his chakra back. It was time to leave.

Rin insisted to write a note – an encouraging one, in which she thanked her teammate for all he has done for them and, even if he wouldn't divulge what exactly it was, she understood. Obito wrote he'd kick his ass if he wasted his eye or got it gauged out or let it be blinded. Minato wrote that, even changed so irrevocably, he was still proud of his student – but he'd better take care of Naruto for both him and Kushina, or _else_.

Their Kakashi didn't deign the paper a searching glance and just left it on the kitchen table.

(He also reactivated the traps, a little revenge he could still have on his weird older self.)

Minato blurred through the hand seals and slammed his palm on the scroll. "Time-hopping no Jutsu!"

* * *

The next time they opened their eyes…

Well.

That couldn't be Konoha, could it?

Rin's head turned in every direction as she looked at the absolute devastation surrounding them. "Minato-sensei, where are we?" she whispered in mild horror.

Minato's face was incredibly pale as his gaze stopped on something far in the distance. He pointed the Hokage monument.

His students gasped with varying degrees of shock – Kakashi didn't gasp, but he was just better at hiding his emotions – for three reasons.

1) _Minato_'s head was on the monument,

2) _Tsunade-sama_'s head was also on the monument,

3) The place they were standing in was supposed to be full of life, but it was full only of dust and debris.

Which also meant they were in Konoha – a destroyed Konoha.

Then Obito shouted, "Sensei! Look!" as he pointed another patch of dust and debris. The only difference with the rest of the desolate scenary was the mop of silver-hair poking through between a slab of concrete and a cracked rooftop.

The Yellow Flash moved true to his nickname and heaved the offending debris off his future student.

His team followed swift and, although they couldn't hope to match their sensei's fear-fueled strength, they could free a small area in which they could treat Older Kakashi's wounds. He couldn't be dead, could he? They had seen him just a few minutes before, alive!

As soon as Minato freed Kakashi's upper torso, he put a slightly trembling hand on his jugular, waiting- _hoping_ to find a pulse, a fleeting sign of a heartbeat, a sluggish chakra flow directed to his not-yet-visible wounds.

Nothing. Just deathly stillness and the deafening rush of blood in his own ears – _blood that should be flowing in his student_ – that stopped any rational thought he might have had beyond _Kakashi's dead._

"Minato-sensei, what's going on?!" Obito shouted in his ear.

"_Idiot!_" their – _alive_ – Kakashi hissed. "Do you want every enemy nearby to hear that?!"

The Uchiha's face flushed. "There is _no one_ here! They're all _dead_!"

"Just because you can't feel them doesn't mean-"

"Obito, Kakashi!" Rin had to intercede before things escalated. She turned to the jonin. "Sensei, is he…?"

Minato's eyes were moist when he looked at his students. "He died a few minutes ago," he stated blankly as he hauled his future (but he'll try his hardest to make sure it won't be) student out of the rubble. The only visible injury was a hit to the head, which had probably been cushioned by the missing hitai-ate.

Rin's own eyes filled with tears as she put her hands on the carefully-laid-out corpse. "I… I can't feel any… residual chakra, sensei."

The man didn't show any outward reaction. "Chakra exhaustion, then."

The chuunin shivered – if the Time-hopping jutsu had required any more chakra, he'd have been a corpse just like his future self.

The only consolation was that he had died trying to protect his village. It was an honorable way to die, wasn't it? To go out fighting for Konoha. It was what they had sworn when he became genin, the vow they repeated when he became chuunin and probably cemented when his future self became jonin.

It was normal. Wasn't it?

And yet, he couldn't muster up the will to make a snide comment about Obito's tears or Rin's, much less Minato-sensei's.

* * *

**So! Yes I'm here for now, though I'm still writing for my main story and going on yet another vacation and I need more inspiration to bring this story to the actual humourous side. ****A _lot_. :P**

**Remember to tell me if you think I didn't get Kakashi's a-bit-of-truth-a-bit-of-mystery quite right, or what else you think might fit into this crazy time-hopping adventure ;D**

**I'll continue in the next chapter (I'll get around to writing it, I swear) but in the meanwhile there are other suggestions I'm considering to use as time-hopping-situations:**

**\- On one of Kakashi's not-official missions with Tenzou**

**\- After the Kyuubi Attack, when Kakashi thinks about betraying the Sandaime**

**\- When Kakashi breaks Tenzou out of ROOT (that'd go soooo smoothly with Danzo XD)**

**\- After Obito or Rin's funeral? Minato's? That'd be just cruel, but oh well**

**\- Of course, when Itachi puts Kakashi in a coma**

**\- Not to mention Obito's reveal/fight to the almost death + the speech before**

**As for more "cheery" situations:**

**\- Fourth Shinobi War, just enough for the Iwa part of the Allied Shinobi Army to flee in terror at the edo-tensei'ed Yellow Flash and for Commander Hatake - along with the whole world - to stare in shock**

**\- During Kakashi and Gai's last challenge before the Fourth Shinobi War (****_that_**** was fun!)**

**\- Kakashi actually Hokage **

**\- Naruto pranking people (Nanadaime Hokage-levels of pranking?)**

**\- Instead of going to the future, they go back to a time ridiculously past (Baby Bijuu level of past XD)**

**\- They assist to a Gai and Lee 'youthful' training session (maybe before knowing about Lee's existence, just to see how well they'd fare against a self-reproducing Gai XP)**

**And... honestly, I can't think of more ridiculous scenarios. Oh well ;P**

**Beware of the Kitsune's rage!**

**Shiiroi Kitsune21**


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